Celebrating Five Years of the Digital Services Coalition: A Letter From the Executive Director

The Digital Services Coalition is not just a trade association; it is a movement.

When the digital transformation era kicked off in 2013 following the troubled launch of healthcare.gov, it was nearly impossible to find the right kind of company that could execute on the concepts of agile delivery and human-centered design — to say nothing about caring about (or, frankly, even acknowledging) end users.

Our founding members saw an opportunity to improve how the government delivers digital services by nurturing a sense of community rather than rivalry. They started a movement that champions collaboration, education, and procurement in ways that were unimaginable in 2013. A movement that understands that chaos and upheaval are the new normal, and empathy is the bridge that connects us across divides.

Today, we have nearly 50 companies represented in our coalition. That is 50 organizations that share a passion for dramatically improving the performance, reach, and customer experience of government services.

We used to see basic procurements for technology taking many months to years to award. Today, we see major programs like va.gov, farmers.gov, DOL unemployment systems, CMS systems, and IRS’s DirectFile all being supported through the use of modular contract methods or under multiple award environments like CEDAR/SPRUCE, CMS’s ACME, ADELE (and others), or the HHS SWIFT — contracts where new orders can be placed in a few weeks to a few months!

As someone who has not gone by the traditional standards and lived a life by the rules that were set up for me — as a woman, as a bureaucrat, even as the procurement voice in a room of techies — in the three years I have been the DSC’s executive director, I have found a true home here in THIS community that also defies the typical “vendor” approach to government services.

I constantly tell people that what impresses me most is not always the work that our member organizations take on, but the work they walk away from. Work that a more traditional profit-driven company would stick their people on to suffer through even though they know the outcome would be bad and the work environment would be terrible.

Now, the challenges ahead of us are going to become even greater. As machines become smarter, so too do the threats they pose. We face a future where malicious attacks are not just a possibility, but a certainty.

This is our opportunity to be digital diplomats for our government partners. This is when we, as this community, can demonstrate what it means to be human as the world tries to embrace AI.

The DSC has been together for five strong years, and we will use our collective strength to navigate the path ahead. The future of digital services is ours to define and lead.

I extend my deepest gratitude to our members, government partners, and the broader digital service community, who have played a pivotal role in shaping the DSC into the organization it is today. Your continued support is essential as we move forward. Together, we achieve more and will continue to be stronger together.